April 2005 Grand Gatherings WISHES cruise

[disney4me4ever]

DH and I will be at WDW 4/10 - 4/15; wondering if anyone else is "just short" of being able to book the Magical (Grand) Gatherings WISHES cruise? We would love to partner with you! Please PM if interested. The rest of our party (DS, DBIL and kids) are not interested in doing this As a last resort, I'll book the other WISHES cruise, but this one has gotten rave reviews.

Thanks!
Nancy

 

[wdwstar]

i really didnt know that they have a grand gathering wishes cruise, can you explain a little more...

we took the wishes cruise last easter just the 4 of us and it was great.
for our magical gathering this christmas i booked the wishes cruise again, but they only aloud 12 people, so since dh and i already did it we would be the ones to sit out sort of speaking.

 

[disney4me4ever]

A Grand Gathering is for parties of 8 or more registered at a WDW hotel or DVC property. As a Grand Gathering, they have access to special events. Fore more info: http://www.disney.ca/vacations/disneyworld/magical_gathering/grand_gatherings_experiences.html

Here is additional information on the Magical Fireworks Cruise:
Magical Fireworks Voyage*

Cast off on a moonlit voyage around the Magic Kingdom Seven Seas Lagoon, which provides the perfect viewing location for the Electrical Water Pagent and the all new Disney "Wishes" Fireworks Spectacular. Along the way, Disney trivia and tales of pirates and Peter Pan abound. And then, a special Disney meet and greet with Peter himself.

Price: Adults and Juniors - $29.99 US, Children (ages 3-9) - $14.99 US (available 90 days prior) *Available on a seasonal basis.

I'm hoping that maybe there is someone going at the same time we are that is a couple people short of a GG that would like to do this cruise, and that we could hook up, similar to how people do that with Illuminations cruises. These cruises have gotten rave reviews and are different than the general Wishes cruise.

HTH,
Nancy

 

[wdwstar]

thank you and i hope you can find a few more pp for you cruise..

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

What is the maximum capacity for these cruises?

 

[tamu91]

Do you have to register for the Grand Gathering or can you just do the GG cruise as a separate package?
9 of us will be at the WDW in late April but we're not doing the grand gathering but would like to do a cruise if we can.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Do you have to register for the Grand Gathering or can you just do the GG cruise as a separate package?
9 of us will be at the WDW in late April but we're not doing the grand gathering but would like to do a cruise if we can.

You do have to register as a Grand Gatherings group. It's not a big deal to register and if you want to do the cruise, then you are doing a grand gathering. At least to Disney you would be.

What is the maximum capacity for these cruises?

We took one and there were about 40 people on the boat. It was a lot of fun.

HBC

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

We took one and there were about 40 people on the boat. It was a lot of fun.

HBC

Which boat was that? I called and they said the maximum occupancy was 12 people per boat.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Which boat was that? I called and they said the maximum occupancy was 12 people per boat.

That's a different cruise. Your talking about either the "fireworks cruise" or the "Illuminations Cruise". For those you rent a pontoon boat for the evening. The cost is about $140.00 no matter if you have 2 people or 12 people.

For the "Wishes" Cruise the cost is per person. You meet at the Contemporary, everyone in your party receives a pin, they have drinks and desserts available, you meet Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and Peter Pan. You go out on a BIG pontoon boat with a Captain who leads the group in songs and plays trivia games with everyone. Wishes is piped right onto the sound system of the boat. It was a blast.

HBC

 

[phyllisnnj]

I hope you find someone to join your group in April.

Does anyone know if Disney allows directly payment from different parties on the same grand gathering event? Or does it have to be paid in full by one person?

Does everyone in your party have to be staying onsite?

 

[InstImpres]

I hope you find someone to join your group in April.

Does anyone know if Disney allows directly payment from different parties on the same grand gathering event? Or does it have to be paid in full by one person?

Does everyone in your party have to be staying onsite?

They claim to allow different people to call in payments but I recommend against it. OP's have reported big problems (ie cancellation) when paying in part.

I believe it is 80% on site. Keep in mind if you have 8 but not all onsite you might be able t add them to your room ressie just for the sake of GG.


Also for those of you looking for "buddies" check out the cruise central thread on the theme park board. You can find "buddies" to cruise with there.

Sandy

 

[quadaunt]

For the "Wishes" Cruise the cost is per person.

I think some of the confusion about the confusion around the cruise is that the Grand Gathering cruise is called the "Magical Fireworks Voyage." I think people hear "Wishes cruise" and think that it's the 12-person pontoon boat cruise (that does not have the Wishes music piped in).

 

[quadaunt]

Does anyone know if Disney allows directly payment from different parties on the same grand gathering event? Or does it have to be paid in full by one person?

The GG CMs will take payment separately, but after doing it this way for one of our events I wouldn't recommend it. I called and paid for my people and then called my friend and had her call to pay for her people (all part of the same GG party). They had told me that all nine spots were being held and that they would simply wait for my friend to call to make payment. However, when she called just a few minutes later they made her hold while they "checked availability." So I suppose that there were a few minutes there where we could have lost our spot if someone else had called in.

Does everyone in your party have to be staying onsite?

As posted above, only 80% of your party have to be staying onsite in order to qualify as a GG. However, every person who attends any of the special GG events must be staying onsite. So if you only had a group of 8 and two weren't staying onsite, you would not be able to do the GG special events as eight people staying at resorts would not be in attendance.

 

[phyllisnnj]

Thanks everyone for the info.